Sombreuil

Location, location, location. In the UK you can’t go into the office but you can go to the office party in a bar? Bizarre world we inhabit these days.

I did the survey in the certain knowledge that it’s a waste of time, but there’s no point complaining if you don’t at least try and make your point.

Probably they wouldn’t notice. G&G in pairs doing a quad twist in the 80s got v little recognition for it.

I like the piano version - it’s less dense than the original and might sound better than a full orchestra sound in an ice rink, and that’s what will matter to Yuzuru. I’m not bothered that it’s been used before - we have Bolero, lots of Tchaikovsky etc this season and he always has good music cuts : remember his Phantom vs those of most of Team Japan not to mention poor Zagitova’s unfortunate mash up……

Very upsetting news and extremely disheartening for him. I don’t see any point in speculating about the degree of injury or the best way for him to act because we don’t know anything about it except for the bare fact that it has happened, and if past experience tells us anything we aren’t going to find out unless and until he’s ready to tell us, possibly letting it slip in an interview long after the event. I wish him a speedy recovery and the eventual accomplishment of his dream. I wish media would stop talking about him going to the Olympics - he has always, even when talking about wanting to win at PC, tempered his comments with references to the selection process. It isn’t actually his choice in the first instance. I don’t think JSF would leave him out if he was fit but he may be less inclined to risk all if his ankle is dodgy and there is a danger that aggravating it will stop him from eventually achieving his ultimate goal. That would be a choice for him to make, and with Yuma and Shoma up there in the mix he may feel less pressure to take the painkillers and do it for Japan. Bottom line is we wait and see - deja vu again ……. just do what’s best for you wonder boy. I never thought I’d be looking back nostalgically to 2014/15 season. It really is a rollercoaster.

Really - back away from the Guardian sports coverage - it is very bad for your health - I was foaming at the mouth after their 2018 Olympic coverage which read like it was dictated by Scott Hamilton.

Went to a performance of Matthew Bourne’s new ballet ‘The Midnight Bell’ this week with a Q&A with the man himself afterwards. He talked about the difference between choreography for a settled ballet score like Cinderella or Nutcracker compared with ones where they cut the music to suit the piece like this new one . He was very clear on the need for movement to match the music and vice versa. The feeling for music expressed here reminded me of what MB was saying.

I am ambivalent about this season. Obviously I’m dying to see him skate and want to see any 4A attempts - watching GPF practices practically gave me heart failure but it was worth it, and I don’t want to miss it. On the other hand, Covid, etc etc . I have renewed my VPN just in case…..

I can’t seem to get it to link but I came across an interview with Elladj Balde from April on the BBC World Service about his initiative to encourage more diversity in the skating community. copied and pasted in the end - wish I was better with tech… Elladj Balde: Former figure skater on improving diversity, and social media fame Last updated on 25 April 202125 April 2021.From the section Winter Sports Elladj Balde performing in 'Revolution on Ice' in 2019 Figure skating didn't allow Elladj Balde to live his truth. He felt it didn't look like him, so he changed. Now he's trying to change the sport so others don't have to do as he did. "I changed everything about me - the way I walked, the way I looked, the way I dressed, what type of music I listened to, what type of music I skated to, what costumes I wore on the ice," he says. "I changed all of that in order to fit what skating told me I should be and I should look like." Balde was born in Moscow to a Russian mother and Guinean father, but moved to Canada at the age of two. He wasn't a fan of skating at first, hiding his skates so he wouldn't have to go to practice, but he grew to love it. He was good at it too: a junior Canadian champion and winner of the 2015 Nebelhorn Trophy - an international competition. But he continued to feel like the odd one out. "The environment itself is a very white, European, even elitist kind of environment," he tells Sportshour on the BBC World Service. "So for someone who is biracial, coming into a sport like that, it's really hard to fit in, it's really hard to find your voice within that space." "My curly hair wasn't clean, and I was told that. I had to cut my curly hair, I couldn't wear this, I couldn't skate to this type of music - and so there was a point in time where I got tired of it, I wanted to feel fulfilled because at that point I wasn't fulfilled with what I was doing." Listen: Elladj Balde - The figure skater trying to change perceptions of his sport Balde felt so alienated that in 2018 he retired from elite skating at the age of 27. Until the Covid-19 pandemic struck, he was travelling the world performing in shows on ice. But in December, the 30-year-old went viral on social media, skating to Rihanna on a patch of ice he came across while driving. He's since set his videos to music by the likes of Drake and Labrinth, even to the words of poet Amanda Gorman, and gained millions of views on TikTok and Instagram. Actress Jada Pinkett Smith is a fan, and Rihanna herself has viewed his work. Little did Balde know how much of a platform that patch of natural ice would give him. "I started realising I really love connecting with people, I love performing, I love sharing my art, and that's what I really started focusing on and that allowed me to get rid of those chains," Balde says. "Then I started realising that I was inspiring a lot of young black, indigenous and people of colour to embrace themselves within the sport as well. "That's when I started realising the power of representation." Elladj Balde was a Canadian junior national champion at 18 Earlier in 2020, following the death of George Floyd, Balde co-founded the Figure Skating Diversity and Inclusion Alliance, which aims to create an inclusive environment in the sport worldwide. His new-found fame allows him to push its message further. No longer does he want to see skaters drop out of the sport because of the colour of their skin, and he wants to be that difference. "You don't have to follow one path," he says. "You can create your own path and if that path doesn't exist, then create it for yourself. "I know the power of seeing someone that looks like you do something incredible, and do it in a way that's different. I know how powerful that is and how inspiring that can be. "I took it as my mission, because I'm so passionate about the sport, to deliver that message." He adds: "That's what will change the world, having more kids and more people live authentically and live fulfilled, and embrace the things that they love about themselves. "That's how we're going to make this world a better place."

Best TV outfit was the simple blue shirt and white jeans post Sochi. This effort has got to be one of the worst, outside of the weirdness that was the gum ad. If it isn’t UA or a competition costume he doesn’t seem to care what they dress him in.

Aaaaargh - I don’t want documentaries, or popularity polls, or retrospectives, I want a competition, or failing that some sort of media day reveal……😩

Unfortunately in 2018 the Guardian took their line from NBC.

I find it extremely difficult to believe that a former training mate of poster boy Adam Rippon isn’t well aware of all these issues. The inarticulate ramble doesn’t say much for Ivy League education either.

Given that he’s competing in the GP series, how can he go to Canada in the current situation re the rules on admission etc? They’re constantly changing - his best bet is to stay in Japan and travel with JSF - whatever their many failings may be they’ll get their allotted skaters to the competitions if at all possible. It’s not ideal but would you wish his 2021/22 season be like Roman Sadovskys 2020/21? I applaud Canada for their caution but a non Canadian skater might well choose to stay where they are guaranteed ice time.

I agree that China will forge ahead with the Olympics if it is humanly possible to do so. I don’t know what to think about the GP. ISU and local feds are going to be desperate for the money, but across the countries in question there is such a huge disparity in how to deal with it, it’s hard to see how it can happen in the normal way. Maybe it will be localised with skaters being sent to the two nearest to their home/training base? They may have to drop the splitting of last years podium placed skaters if so. In a normal year I’d prefer Yuzuru to do SC and Rostelecom simply because we get better practice footage etc from those competitions. I have bad memories of puddles on the ice at French competitions so I prefer him not to go there even though it’s probably my best chance of ever seeing him. In these times I really don’t know what to wish for. I found the WC dispiriting, not because of any particular outcome but seeing the disparity between those skaters whose circumstances meant that they got ice time, training and competition and those who didn’t. Not a level playing field. I particularly felt for the likes of Roman Sadovsky.

Happy birthday everyone

Me too - won’t be during Yuzuru’s career or even YKs - but eventually they will have to face up to it. I think it will be like tennis and football- FIFA were dead set against technology but when tennis showed that it could work even that load of entitled sleazebags had to take it seriously. Gymnastics is beginning to use tech that could be adapted to skating, especially re floor routines. If it works in one it will eventually be adopted by the other, especially if the IOC were to get behind it.

Fascinating if true. That will be interesting to watch unfold.

I can’t help wondering whether the problem is his perfectionist idea of landing the jump properly. I’m not suggesting he’s waiting until he can do the back counter in and high kick on the way out but he’s not going to be happy if he’s taking three quarters of the rink run up and he’s definitely going to want a proper landing with good extension coming out of it.

It also makes it easy to shut oneself off from the iniquitous judging and poisonous comment that is prevalent everywhere, because none of it actually matters any more.

Aaah - takes me back to my favourite WTT team gala performance - team Japan naturally, and the Yoshida brothers.

I expect he will always admire his skating - I still like his old work both for competitions and shows, and I always liked the way he stood up for himself against some really horrible media coverage. Unfortunately now he’s the one doing the bullying and I don’t see YH finding much to admire in that.

It’s difficult to see how this could possibly go ahead - SOE is unlikely to last less than two weeks.

I read back after I became a fan after the CoC disaster. I think there were a lot of older fans ( though not as old as me probably😉) who were heavily invested in the cute Japanese boy with the elegant Japanese lady coach, skating to music they enjoyed and they really didn’t like the move to Canada and disliked ‘ noisy’ PW. It spoiled their preconceptions. I doubt if they realised that R&J 1 was partly a result of collaboration with Russian coaches/choreographers, or that he’d spent some time training in Russia. I think they saw him as an ethereal Jason Brown figure. I don’t think they really saw him as a contender. It’s what I was talking about a week or two ago - a sort of unconscious condescending racism.

The first place I ever engaged with social media was this N American based forum. It was not a happy experience and I have no desire to repeat it.